NL
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great Safari in Kenia, value for money
We had a great safari with Blue Range. Visited multiple National Parcs with out driver/guide. Mozes was great, experieced driver and guide with al lot of knowledge about the parcs and species.
We booked with Blue Range because of the good price for an extensive safari. Well worth the costs. Fee improvement-remarks for Blue Range: 1. Never book Masai Mara Manyatta camp again: it’s strongly in decay, 2. When changes to the itinary occur, communicate upfront instead of last minute and 3. We sometimes had the feeling that things had to be arrangend last minute by the driver, while had booked a complete tour upfront. That gives the idea that not everything has been arranged for in time (e.g: lodge not knowing how long we will stay and lodges not knowing what meals are included in our tour).
UY
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Everything good
Everything was fine. The guys were very nice and pending on us all the time
IT
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing experience in the wild
We spent 3 days and 2 nights respectively in Salt Lick Lodge and in Kibo Camp (in front of Kilimangiaro). We visited 3 parks: amboseli was incredible! We saw lots of animals like lions, elephants, hippo, etc. Our guide Daniel was very nice giving is the possibility to Make lots of nice pictures! Alice as Morning Star’s tour operator was available 24hours for any kind of assistance. We liked Amboseli a lot with Kilimangiaro’s view: thanks to our guide Daniel we visited also a Masai Village in front of Kilimangiaro. Here we entered in touch with local culture and traditions.
US
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good Experience
Overall, we had a great experience. Zedius is a good driver and an attentive guide. The Buhoma Community Haven Lodge was excellent, and the bird guide that AGS engaged, Nicholas, was excellent as well. Doreen was very responsive and tailored the trip to our needs. Would recommend AGS to anyone looking for quality and affordable organized travel options in East Africa.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Best guide ever
beautiful country, good, clean lodges, our German-speaking guide Toni was extremely knowledgeable, very reliable and a very, very safe driver
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Lemosho Route until the top!
We are an Italian couple and we climbed with other 8 people from GB throughout Lemosho Route. It was a very good experience with Jackson and its crew. They came to the airport as the flight landed to get us in Moshi, the accommodation in Panama Hotel was very comfortable. Next day we met our hiking mates and the guides, then we started the trek. Porters are superheroes - carrying everything for us from one camp to another, tents were always ready and so our baggage. They also provided us some hot washing water twice a day and drinking water whenever asked. Food was really good and plentiful, as Tony (guide) said: "if you want to reach the summit, you must eat!". Our plates were always full of pasta, soup, meat, rice and sauce, the chefs also cooked pancakes, porridge and eggs for breakfast. Hot beverage was always available during meals for preparing tea, hot chocolate, coffee, etc. Everyone was always kind to us and we felt like part of a family. Special thanks to the guides Jackson, Joseph, Tony, Abel and James for the summit night. It was a nice experience and we absolutely recommend Almighty Kili! Asante sana.
FR
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
My first safari (and solo)!
I booked the 6 Day Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli Budget Landcruiser safari and the booking team (Alex) was super helpful and maintained clear communication up to the time I was picked up on D-Day.
The first 2.5 days with Ibrahim as my tour guide was excellent! He really knew the Maasai Mara reserve like the back of his hand and made significant effort to ensure we saw as much as possible! However, I completely believe that the budget lodge needs significant renovation. The conditions of the tent were passable at best but they have a great team there. Secondly, I regret going to the MM village; not a privileged moment with the local people to discover their culture but a money grab at every moment. Eg. we were shown a welcome dance and encouraged to participate but weren't educated about the moments that these were actually performed in their daily lives. The main Maasai guide constantly encouraged you to take photos of everything which just felt so intrusive. These are real people and not characters putting on a show and should be given that respect. Overall this part of the program was my favourite.
Things took a turn when it was time to move on to the last 2 parts of the program. Turns out, they randomly throw people together on these group tours, which in theory is fine and efficient but this time they lacked good coordination which had an impact on my experience. I booked (and fully paid) solo with Lenchada but turns out I kept getting placed with guides from "Jocky Tours" (imagine my surprise and confusion). (1) On my program, I was expecting an evening game drive upon arriving at Nakuru but instead was forced to go with the rest of the group in the vehicle to an almost 2 hour stop at Lake Naivasha before heading to Lake Nakuru; resulting in being unable to the evening drive. (2) We had to drop people into Nairobi instead of taking the planned direct route to Amboseli from Nakuru, resulting in no evening game drive but also having to endure very dangerous driving getting to the Lodge in Amboseli in the night (there aren't much street lamps but an abundance of wildlife in this area as you can imagine). Furthermore, because we arrived so late, the driver proposed not to do an early morning game drive which is when Mount Kilimanjaro is clearest. I almost missed it, thank God I had one more day. Everything with this driver felt rushed and unorganised during this last period and had a significant impact on my safari experience. The driver also displayed serious favouritism with all the other travellers in the group and made me feel even more unwelcomed being by myself. I even overheard him sending safari review links to everyone except me (let's not get into the fact that I was the only Black person in the group). Anyway, the lodges during this part were nice and seeing Mount Kilimanjaro in all its splendor was the only highlight.
I will definitely be back to Kenya! The wildlife and national parks are an absolute dream.
US
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Almost a great safari
Let me start with the good as most of what we bargained for we did receive.
Silas was quick to respond to requests for information. He was waiting for us personally when we arrived at the airport in Nairobi. We did get to the parks that we requested. We had no changes in price or what was delivered. Our guide, Isaiah, was a good driver and answered most questions that we had with a Hakuna Matata "no problem" attitude.
Things that could have gone better? We were to meet Isaiah at the hotel where we stayed overnight so that we could be an early start to go to Samburu Reserve. We went to the reception area at 5:45 for a 6:00 start. At 6:00 I walked out into the parking lot to see if someone was waiting for us and saw no-one. At 6:20 I spoke with the receptionist at the hotel and mentioned the name Apodiformes and she said she had seen the van further out in the dark parking lot. Eventually we learned that we needed to go to the parking lot to find our van rather than be met inside our lodge at each park.
Not having Kenyan shillings with me I asked if we could stop at an automatic teller on our way to the first lodge. No problem. It was six days and multiple request for tipping money and small cash to buy souvenirs before we finally made that stop.
I made a specific request for a driver experienced in photography and birds, but found Isaiah was familiar, but not proficient in either. In spite of repeated questions about locations, animals, and history we only go brief answers to our requests, and occasionally inaccurate. In the case of the Ernest Hemingway bar at the Amboseli Sopa he replied that here was nothing special about it. It was just the second bar at the lodge and it was up on a rock. A quick Google about the bar reveals that it was actually a home built by the author and the stories told by the bartender about his uncle and the writer are worth stopping for a drink all by themselves.
We scheduled two nights at both Masai Mara and Tsavo East in order to make more that one game drive. At each we only went out one time in spite of the extra time allotted.
A little extra time in planning could have put us either in a lodge that made those game drives possible, or a stop at a smaller place of interest overnight could have shorted our multiple 7-9 hour drives between lodges.
The price was fair. We saw what we had scheduled. I got some wonderful pictures. It could have been planned better and a bit more interest in our safari could have taken this from a "B-" to an "A'" without a major investment in time or money.
BE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Good organised and friendly people
The safari guides Paul en Alex are professionals and gave a lot of information during the safari tour.They respect also the time schedule.The drivers drove safely.
IT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Astonishing experience
Tanzania's National Park are a dreamy reality. Crossing their gates meant to me detaching from reality, society and all the problems related, it felt like a peaceful and spiritual reality where I regained a lost relationship with nature and animals. Sleeping inside the tented camps in the park was incredibly peaceful, it was really a dream, during the night animals roam around your tent, and we could hear zebras, hyenas, buffalos ecc.. Serengeti then was a real gem, we saw all the big five and many hunting scenes and lion cubs.
We choose Colours Africa Tours as operator and they were really helpful, always on time and always listening to our requests, they put us in amazing accomodations and give us delicious food, and I think they provide a really good quality service compared to the price. Overall that's an experience I would 100% repeat. Also, even when in Arusha or Zanzibar we felt safe walking around by ourselves in the villages, which is something you can't do everywhere in the continent. The weather was hot but pleasant in the mainland and in the parks, only in the Ngorongoro Crater it was very cool, but in Zanzibar it was, in my opinion, intolerably humid.
